


Costume Jewelry

by disdainfullady



Category: Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types, Veronica Mars - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-10 10:18:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4388048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disdainfullady/pseuds/disdainfullady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thoughts on the necklace, the choker, and why she stopped wearing them</p>
            </blockquote>





	Costume Jewelry

**Author's Note:**

> From fandom

_Stars_

She gave you the necklace for your thirteenth birthday, and you remember being enchanted with its daintiness, but a little overawed because you’d never had a piece of _real_ jewelry before. She helped you put it on, and you were so happy and excited that you didn’t say anything when her hand fumbled the clasp even though you probably could have put it on faster yourself. And when it was finally on, she kissed you and said it looked lovely and you promised yourself you were never going to take it off.

You showed it to Lilly when she came over for your party, but she just shrugged and said it looked great in the way that meant she really didn’t care and could you just stop bothering her please? And you were a little hurt, but you didn’t say anything because if Lilly got mad at you then she’d leave and you wanted everyone to be happy. So you smiled and agreed with her when she said Logan was really cute and of course he would think she looked hot today and tried not to resent the fact that even on your birthday it was always all about Lilly. Still, you fingered the pendent nervously and thought maybe it wasn’t that special after all.

You were glad that Lilly kissed Logan that night because when she was telling you about it, she said that by the way, that necklace was perfect. Then she’d grinned at you and said that since you were perfect, it was awesome on you. You think now that she probably only said it because her victory over Logan meant she could afford to be generous, but at the time you were just thrilled that Lilly approved and felt guilty for resenting her earlier.

Later, Duncan smiled at you and said you looked nice and you blushed so much that Logan noticed and laughed at you both and he and Duncan started scuffling until your Dad put a stop to things by calling everyone to eat. And even though you knew that he probably hadn’t even seen the necklace – boys didn’t pay attention to that kind of thing – you still somehow felt that it was special, because Duncan had hardly ever noticed you before.

From then on you did everything but sleep in the necklace, and you only avoided that because you didn’t want to risk breaking the chain. It became so much a part of you that the day you forgot it cause you had overslept and left yourself exactly five minutes to get ready for school, you felt like someone else.

You liked the girl who wore the necklace. She was delicate and pretty and people noticed her. Her mother actually saw her instead of the glass in her hand. Lilly, whose mercurial affections were almost impossible to pin down, approved of her. Duncan Kane noticed her, instead of just thinking of her as his sister’s friend.

You hated the days – even Halloween – when you had to take off the necklace and stop being that girl. She was the girl you wanted to be.

_Rings_

The night of the party you chose the choker deliberately. They were all treating you like someone different, so you’d be someone different. Not the girl who broke down under their taunts, but someone else. Someone who didn’t care about the whispers and gossip. Someone tougher – harder.

There wasn’t a lot you could do about the dress. You didn’t own anything that fit your new image. If Lilly had been there, she would have had something perfect for you. She would have laughed as she got you up in something red or black, probably saying that it was about damn time. Of course, if Lilly was still there, you wouldn’t have needed a new image in the first place.

You shrugged the thoughts of Lilly away and concentrated on getting ready. The dress was a lost cause, so you just went heavy on the makeup and jewelry. The choker was the perfect touch; it couldn’t be more different from the dainty necklace that used to define you.

It wasn’t supposed to be permanent. It was just a costume, something to help you till things got better again. You didn’t know what was going to happen that night. That you’d be cast in an entirely different role - one that you didn’t audition for.

But if they were looking at you differently before, it was nothing like how they looked at you after that night, like somehow it was burned into your skin, a sign for everyone to see. Like Hester, like Cain, you were marked for life. And it didn’t matter that you were the victim of the piece.

The choker, in its way, had been the symbol of that night, and once you actually were harder, once they’d made it more than just a brave front, you chose it as your new signature piece. A simple fuck you to the lot of them.

Of course, the choker from the party was too much for everyday, and even if it wasn’t, the part where you’d burned it kind of precluded you from wearing it again. So you found a new one. It was a cheap thing, less than five dollars at one of those cloying accessories only stores at the mall, a thin band with three interlocking rings at the front. You wore it with the necklace. A sign of who you were - and who they had made you be.

_Hearts_

You don’t know what you were expecting when you kissed him - when he’d kissed you -but you didn’t expect him to look at you like that. It wasn’t the laughing contempt he’d graced you with for over a year. It wasn’t the grudging respect he’d shown you over the last few months. It wasn’t even the teasing, protective, almost brotherly affection he’d used to show as a matter of course. All of a sudden, the play had changed, and you no longer knew your lines.

You ran. Told yourself it didn’t mean anything. The two of you had just been caught up in the moment. The guy always kisses the girl after the grand rescue, it was practically programmed in. Nothing had changed.

You kept telling yourself that until he kissed you again.

You are pretty good at lying to yourself. At shutting down when things are too hard to process. But he’s there and he’s not going away, and you don’t know what you feel, but you don’t want this to end.

And you need some new jewelry.


End file.
